Every university goes through an annual budgeting cycle. There are about as many budget processes as there are universities but they all have one thing in common: the need to take account of changes in enrolment, governmental support, and other external factors. This is not easy because each potential factor affects various parts of the […]
READ MOREPrevious blogs examined how the Pilbara model helps identify programs for investment and disinvestment (#5) and illuminates the economic relationships between programs (degrees) and individual courses (subjects). Now we turn to “Program Review” – a deep dive into the specifics of particular programs. Traditional reviews look at a program’s curricular structure, the institution’s capacity (in […]
READ MORECombining the analytic insights from using a tool such as Microsoft Power BI together with a robust cost model can open up a previously hidden set of views to management, particularly with respect to courses (subjects) and programs (degrees). In the past, this data has not purposefully be hidden, but rather it’s simply not captured […]
READ MORETuition pricing decisions must balance each program’s expected student demand (at a given price) against its per-student contribution margin and recover the institutions full costs when all the programs are added together. The Pilbara model calculates fully loaded and net margins (based on gross tuition and fee revenue, offset by financial aid / scholarship / […]
READ MOREMarginal Enrollment Cost and Break-even Analysis are two of the hardest concepts to both calculate and analyse as you need to have a detailed and robust cost model to support your decision-making process. Among other things, you need to be able to differentiate direct costs from support costs, and fixed from variable costs, at the […]
READ MOREThinking in terms of degree and other academic programs is essential when considering your institution’s revenues, costs, and margins. This kind of thinking goes beyond analyses based on faculties, schools, and departments. It is the program portfolio that connects the institution to the student marketplace, so that is the place where resource allocation strategy should […]
READ MOREIt is not uncommon for schools to receive pressure to address their low enrolment courses (subjects). For example, they may be told that they shouldn’t be running courses with fewer than, say, six students in them. So how do you go about distinguishing the ‘good’ courses from the ‘bad’ courses? It is not a simple […]
READ MOREUniversities are constantly jugging resources – research brings the rankings and brand while teaching brings the bulk of the revenue. In Australia, this has become even harder in 2018 with the capping of CGS (Commonwealth Grant Scheme) funding. Universities see their students as customers and provide a range of services, both inside and outside of […]
READ MOREFollowing on from knowing your ‘available’ versus ‘required’ academic hours (as outlined in our last newsletter / blog post), the next level of understanding is to apply that knowledge to all the outputs of the school or discipline and not just the teaching component. By understanding the full theoretical output of a school, and then applying […]
READ MOREI recently interviewed around 50 individuals at several higher education institutions across Australia to better understand what academics and administrators really need to support both their day-to-day as well as big picture decision making. I learned that academics want to be involved in the financial management of their institutions to ensure they are sustainable. This […]
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